What a nightmare this disease is…

Sonic is a lovable sweet dog, he has been with me and my husband for 11 years now. He is such a fur ball. He has one blue eye and one brown eye.

On a hot summer day in August he was let in the house to keep cool once i returned home my family let me know he had hurt his left blue eye in some sorts. I immediate thought he got stung by a bee or some bug if he was left outside. i took him to the vet and they gave him some drops thinking he had an infection or a possible foxtail.

Two days went by and no change. I called everywhere to get a second opinion we ended up going to an eye specialist and yup it was too late. They diagnosed him with glaucoma on his beautiful left eye. there was no saving the eye, the disease was ugly and fast. He went blind.

They gave me choices. lots of them. I was overwhelmed. I was alone. No one can prepare you when your at the vet and to get the news your dog is suffering is just so heart breaking. I literally like lots of people here thought my dog was dying. there was no hope.

I called my husband, he consoled me and told me lets try the eye drops. which was one option. The others were completely remove the eye, inject the eye, or prosthetic eye. All were not good. We went with the drops. we got prescribed 4 medications. for 3x a day. it was a mission, but he was doing so well!

Two months went by and he was like a new dog. until the 4 month. His pressure has spiked back up and we have run out of choices.

We have to remove the eye now. Its been so hard dealing with how his eye will be shaved off, the stitches just everything he has to go thru, but reading everyones story has helped me make the decision that it is best for him to relieve this awful pain. The struggle we have to face now is not making the appointment but finding the money resources to help pay for the surgery as the surgery is costly. I also don’t want to wait to long to seek any help due to his being in pain. The search has been a struggle but i have found some links to help. He is now still taking meds to help him sleep and keep him some what comfy till surgery date comes about.

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8 thoughts on “What a nightmare this disease is…”

Hi Jackie, our dog got glaucoma at 6. First one eye went blind, then a year or so later the other. The whole process from discovery of glaucoma to removal of the second eye was about two years. Along the way we tried many combinations of drops, sometimes 4 different ones up to 4x a day. It was very difficult on all involved. We are convinced eye removal is best. It is expensive, but once it is done, it is done. The drops are expensive also, and in the long run, removal is cheaper. Also once the eye is removed, the drops no longer have to be given, whcih takes a lot of time and is inconvenient. Hopefully you will only have to have one eye removed. The good news is that the dog adapted very well. He eats well, goes on walks, gets on furniture, hunts in the yard, and seems happy. A good book is Living With Blind Dogs by Caroline Levin. Amazon has it. It has a lotta tips about how to adapt. Good luck to all of you!

Hi jim,
Glaucoma is such a vicious disease. I can imagine what you guys went thru, as we to had to once have our dog have drops 4x a day. We would be working, out and about or just not home and rush home to make sure those drops were given at those times of day. Just to make sure his pressure wouldn’t spike up. I agree with you completely, and thankfully we have gone thru the process of having his eye surgery. He is 4 days post op and doing much better than before! Im so glad your dog adapted well! Hearing your story like many others here has reassured me i made the right decision and everything will be alright in due time. Thank you for the book recommendation, i will check that out!
-jackie

My Samoyed was diagnosed at age 3 in one eye and lost sight in it a year later. at 6yrs the other eye went blind. I had valves and laser done to keep the eyes. Occasional flare up once or twice a year and I manage to get her thru it with carprofen and addl eye drops. I know how hard it is to make a decision about keeping the eyes. Know in your heart you’ve done everything you can. Last week she developed diabetes at age 9, insulin not working. She’s the perfect dog smart beautiful otherwise healthy. Breaks our hearts. We have 4 rescue Siberian huskies as well.

hi lynn,
Wow! your samoyed is so strong to be going thru this, as well as you. It really breaks our hearts seeing our friends go thru any pain. Diabetes is a hard disease to experience as well. Im sorry your going thru this at the moment and I’m sending over positive vibes for her as I’m a big advocate on energy with animals. Stay strong, and hope this blog gives you any sort of comfort as it has done for me.
-jackie

Since Friday, I have been reading anything I can find on the internet regarding how to care for a “newly” blind dog and am happy to have found this site. Thank you Jackie, your post resonates with me.

I am the owner of an 11 year old cockapoo named Derby. He developed glaucoma in his left eye in 2015 and by the time he was seen by the vet, it was game-over and his sight was lost. I tried to manage the pressure using medication, however his eye would often swell and be so painful causing him to rub it in the carpet or ground outside, that I made the decision with my vet, to have it surgically removed in Dec 2015.

On Friday Jan 13, 2017 (date is fitting), it was a snowy winter night in the northeast and Derby, my lab and I were crashed on the sofa watching a movie. I took the lab out around 10pm and when I came back in the the room, Derby was on the floor sitting it what looked like a very stiff/awkward position and shaking. Thinking he was going to be sick or have an accident I put his leash on to take him otr. He wouldn’t budge. This is a dog who loves to take a walk. He then walked into the ottoman and just stood there, and I knew he couldn’t see. I took him to the animal emergency hospital (we are fortunate to have an animal hospital that is open 24 hours a day every day of the year) and found the pressure in his eye was incredibly high. He was admitted and the hospital administered mannitol suspension IV, and was able to bring the pressure down, with the hope that some sight, or at least perception of light and dark, might be saved, but it was too late. My boy is blind. I made the decision to remove his right eye and he had surgery Sat Jan 14, 2017.

Since 2015, I have been observing his eye and saw no evidence but I gather that the glaucoma had “started-up”. However I am stunned at how quickly his sight was lost. I walked Derby around 5pm friday and he was sighted making eye contact, looking at stuff on the walk and 5 hours later he was blind.

I spent Sat, while he was in the hospital, trying to “blind-dog proof” the rooms the dogs get the hang in and today, Sunday Jan 15, 2017 and Derby’s back home. He was so happy (was going to say see) when he realized it was me and relieved to be home. I’ve read not to baby them too much, so letting him discover the house. Due to the surgery, he’s wearing a cone of shame, and is bumping into everything, but in a few hours discovered his water and food bowel, scarfed down dinner, and then found his bed and is sleeping. He is scared of the stairs coming in/ out of the house and the cone gets caught on the steps, which makes it worse, so I plan to carry him down the steps until the eye is a bit more healed and I can take the cone off during walks.

Dear Carrie, My 10.5 year old Shih Tzu had similar situation. We tried absolutely everything, even went to Long Island for a special MicroPulse laser which didn’t work. Lilly had glaucoma in her right eye and we ended up (after agonizing over it for as long as we could) to take it out. Her results came back as primary glaucoma, so that meant her remaining eye would very likely become affected. It did. Two months later. We elected to do the Gentimicin injection as I couldn’t bear to see her go through the euncleation surgery again. She did pretty well and seemed to be adjusting somewhat, but she is a baby and I end up carrying her up stairs and out to potty, etc. However, she has developed severe separation anxiety and is on medications at this point and doing ok when someone is home with her. When we need to go out and leave her alone, she paces, pants, barks and is very, very uncomfortable. We are now trying other medications to calm her when we go out, but so far this is not working either. I wish you the best of luck with your furry loved one and hope Derby adjusts better than my Lilly. I have been to specialists and now am working with a behaviorist…. it is agonizing.